Republican Atheists will no longer post to Facebook
A notice from Republican Atheists president:
For years now it has been clear that Facebook is on a mission to present views it finds favorable to the public while censoring views it does not find favorable. Despite this being widely known, I have continued to use Facebook as Republican Atheists’ primary communication platform because it has the highest level of traffic compared to any other platform I have used thus far.
However, after a recent debacle with Facebook, I have decided to discontinue use of Facebook, not only for Republican Atheists but also for my personal account and practically all other projects and groups I manage.
Facebook recently locked me out of my personal account for relating antifa and Black Lives Matter violence to “insurrection,” and gave me only one option to reinstate my account within a 30 day time period, which was nearly impossible for me to do. (On a side note, I find Facebook’s decision to lock my account alarming when I stated my comment in the midst of the January 6 investigation launching, an event that is relevant to the entire nation and world. How many individuals have not only been silenced by Facebook for commenting on “insurrection,” but have even had their accounts completely removed?).
After gaining access to an old phone number for identity verification on Facebook, as well as submitting pictures of my face and a photo of my ID, I managed to have my account reinstated. I feel violated for having to submit that information, but I did not want to lose access to my projects and contacts that I have been working on for years. I am sharing these details so the public is aware of the information Facebook is collecting from users in order for their accounts to be reinstated, and to encourage the public to think more critically about the power Facebook has and how to address it.
At this point I no longer consider Facebook to be worthy of my time even with its higher traffic numbers. A platform that pulls the plug on users while giving them practically no option to reinstate their accounts (and demanding so much personal information!) is clearly a platform that needs the boot. Even before this episode occurred, I noticed for over a year that Facebook had diminished the exposure of Republican Atheists to general users, as our number of likes stalled.
Currently the most effective way to stay connected with Republican Atheists is to join our email subscription list at this link. We are currently on Instagram (granted, a platform owned by Facebook), Twitter and Parler. We have also launched a forum on our website for our supporters to communicate. If you would like to join the forum please email info[at]republicanatheists.com.
Tell the public to DROP FACEBOOK.
Thank you for your support.
In gratitude,
Lauren Ell
President
Republican Atheists
